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Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]

There are certain stereotypes that go along with being a millennial. Social media-obsessed and apathetic are two that I see thrown around most often. Thanks to a study by UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the YEC only one of these might be true and it will get millennials hired.

According to the study, millennials are highly ambitious, with a majority placing an importance on jobs with chances for career progression and personal growth. And while it’s no surprise that these ambitious young people are plugged in through social media, the study said hiring an employee who is active on Facebook greatly increases a company’s digital reach.

Millennials will make up 36 percent of the work force by 2014 and 46 percent by 2020—pretty good news for employers to have a generation of workers who are natural web marketers on the way.

This study, which is outlined in the graphic below, illustrates the traits that make millennials hirable, and how they differ from previous generations.

Not only do millennials multitask far more than previous generations, they value social media freedom, device flexibility and work mobility over salary in accepting a job offer.

This is the first generation in history in which social communication skills have been so important. For millennials like me, using Facebook is second nature to keep up with friends and family, but employers see it as a way to spread their brand through who we talk to.

While I do find it aggravating that our own employers along with big brands and advertisers are cashing in on my generation’s somewhat obsessive social media habits, it makes a lot of sense.

A good portion of my Facebook news feed consists of my friends sharing information about their jobs, new products their company has come out with and events their employer is doing. Even when I look back at my own timeline 90 percent of my status updates are linked to Forbes posts.

This tendency to share every aspect of our lives naturally translates to our work life. What we do at the office is just as much part of our lives as who we’re dating, what we had for breakfast and who we’re in a fight with, so why not share our work life like everything else?

Sounds like good advertising to me, and for us it comes as second nature.

So, for those of you graduating high school or college or just entering the workforce, keep your Facebook page up and keep tweeting because these seemingly trivial social tasks might land you a job.

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I love the information in this infographic. The Millennial generation is its own breed in a way, different than the ones before. In the workplace this can cause a few misconceptions and contention. Educating Millennials and their managers on the differences in values between the generations can make them be aware and help them develop skills to accommodate each other. The company I work for is studying the challenges Millennials and their managers are seeing in the workplace. We have developed two free assessments that will help illustrate strengths and weaknesses with Millennials and their managers. If you are interested in taking either assessment follow the link: http://www.redtreeleadership.com/millennials/MillennialResearch.html Once you have completed the assessment we will email you a PDF file of your results.

“This is the first generation in history … so important.” Seriously? Previous generations would be surprised to know their communication skills were not as important as those of the current generation.

The problem with many MEllenials is they were raised to believe the world revolved around them, their wants, their desires, their interests and that everything they had to say was some profound revelation everyone needed to hear.

Granted I am painting with a broad brush but the fact is the MEllenial population contains a considerable proportion of “average”; they simply have more technology tools and toys with which to waste time.

Michael I think the point of this article is the technology and toys – specifically how they aren’t a waste of time for companies. The fact is sharing product knowledge and info about your company on your FB news feed spreads brand recognition, maybe even better than advertising does; i.e. more value for the company.

Anyone can do this – the idea is the millennials are already good at it.

So while I’d argue the world doesn’t revolve around M’s, the truth is it actually revolves those most readily willing to change with always-changing powers that be that make business what it is. Be careful, you might just end up getting left behind.

The MEllenials must care about themselves in a sense because we are fighting much harder for fewer jobs then previous generations. We are the first generation in history to be worse off then our parents.

I loathe this stereotype that my generation is not hard working and is careless. I work 60-70 hours a week to pay for MASSIVE amounts of student loan debt just from my bachelor’s degree which is pretty much a minimum NECESSITY for new generations entering the work force.

Yes, I agree there are select groups of millenials that I like to call the YOLO crew, who believe things will just work out for them without trying. However, I do NOT believe that is the majority or even close to of the attitude and work ethic that millenials truly have. I mean, my 15 year-old sister is only going into her junior year and has chosen to take all AP classes so she can receive college credit and relieve my parents of some student loan debt when its her turn for college. That doesn’t sound selfish and irresponsible to me.

“relieve my parents of some student loan debt”. How about getting a job and helping with that student loan. Taking a year off to save for college is a very doable option. Community colleges and such can be attended in a huge way without incurring student debt. There are huge options for not incurring this debt, but many do not take it expecting ma and pa to do it for them. Today it is not possible. Not only that, if I was a parent of a high school student I would be up front about whether college would be a wise option. Not everyone should go to college. There are still great trade schools around. Lastly, parents who do help pay for college should first make sure the field they want to go into is a viable field. I would never help pay for women’s study degrees, art degrees, and such.

Outside of the Bay Area, where there is a fountain of easy VC money chasing the next social-media startup with an unworkable advertising-based business model, the world looks very different.

Every generation thinks that its entire membership are kickass go-getters. You guys just haven’t been working long enough to discover the 80/20 rule yet. About 20% of you are go-getters and will do quite well, but 80% of you are lackluster. This is true with my generation (Gen X), as it is yours.

If there is any difference with Millennials, it is that a lot more of you have college educations than probably should, and therefore of your 80% can do more short-term damage.

Also, the embracing of “consensus” is really just “I’m afraid to be held accountable for an individual decision”. Your 20% will get over that at some point, I hope.

Outside of the Bay Area, where there is a fountain of easy VC money chasing the next social-media startup with an unworkable advertising-based business model, the world looks very different.

Every generation thinks that its entire membership are kickass go-getters. You guys just haven’t been working long enough to discover the 80/20 rule yet. About 20% of you are go-getters and will do quite well, but 80% of you are lackluster. This is true with my generation (Gen X), as it is yours.

If there is any difference with Millennials, it is that a lot more of you have college educations than probably should, and therefore your 80% can do more short-term damage.

Also, the embracing of “consensus” is really just “I’m afraid to be held accountable for an individual decision”. Your 20% will get over that at some point, I hope.

I’m not so certain that the ability to Facebook, Twitter and text message simultaneously is the definition of what en employer needs or defines in a good employee. The fact is that the past two generations, and probably more, can multi-task. Moreover, pretty much everyone is comfortable with technology, the Xer’s grew up with it too, and the Boomers learned through their strong work ethic.

The fact is that the Millennial Generation was sold a bill of goods that has created a perfect storm. Everyone else was raised in a generation where self esteem was developed, but with you we decided it was better to try to hand you your self esteem on a silver platter. Sorry, our intentions were good but it doesn’t work that way. Now, here you are, coddled and told every single thing you ever did was great (even when it wasn’t) so as not to harm your fragile self esteem, and on top of that we shoved fear down your throats and allowed Madison Avenue to co-opt every part of your being in such an all encompassing and overwhelming manner that to even exist you feel a need to own the next, best thing even if it enslaves you to debt for the rest of your lives, which it what it does.

Worse, the people who should now be responsible for telling you the truth about this egregious error are the ones that created it. To make matters more complicated, they were your parents and other influential role models in your young lives, which means that however innocently and directed by the changed social fabric of our nation made it come about, they would now would have to admit making an error in the upbringing of a child they cared very much for, and that is pretty tough. So we continue to provide you fairy tales of how things will be O.K.

No, being able to Tweet, Facebook and text is not going to take the place of work ethic (8 to 10 jobs by 30??? No one wants to hire that, and moreover, if you quit every time it gets hard, all you learn is quitting), sticking with things and all the other things that make up a strong work ethic, planning for the future and taking criticism of inferior work with the intention is given, to help young, entry level workers to grow into valuable assets of a company, that’s what will get you ahead.